Making a basket from a free sack

Sometimes coffee shops and garden centres give away hessian sacs for people to recycle. Often coffee grounds too. A friend brought one back for me recently and I’ve been wondering how best to use it. I decided a lined container might be nice. I wanted to keep the thick sewn edge and make a feature of it, and I found that it is possible to sew them together using a heavy needle and one of the weave ....

I’m making the lining from an old curtain plus it’s interfacing, that was part of another friend’s clear out. I’m just a girl who can’t say no! The lining of the curtain was faded and weak. But the Laura Ashley cotton fabric was still nice. 

Prayers for our time, lockdown life ...

I’ve been working on a series of small textiles using scraps and what I have available. I have thought about them as an exhibition or event for quite sometime, but it wasn’t until now when we all took to our homes that working on them became important. I wanted them to be made from things I already have and to feature single words, perhaps something that could be prayed or spoken over something, a series of things to be thankful for. 

After running my idea past Nick The Vic each of them will be shared during the online Sunday church, and the first appeared last Sunday ... 

With no work available apart from house work and cooking it’s nice to have a little project on slow burn, and perhaps beyond lockdown too. It’s also very satisfying to hit that stash and create something that might reach further than I can. Feel free to comment with any single word prayers or blessings or words for things we should be grateful for during these crazy times. Practising thankfulness is very powerful indeed. Love you xxx 

Don't be board .....

Found a superb chopping board in a charity shop and snapped it up for collaging ....

It already had red sides, so I covered each side in pages of prayer book, and overlapped the edges, sanding them once dry. I covered both sides and then scumbled white paint over the top. 

Now for some fun, cutting lettering from pretty paper using a sketch as a guide. All the letters were drawn on the back of the paper in reverse. 

After gluing them to the heart, I rubbed in some pastel colours and fixed them before varnishing the piece ...

Here is the other side of this truly double sided art! 

Four Memory Pups ....

I was asked to make some very special pups in the style of my flat cats! I love to be asked to try new things so I set about designing some dogs with fold-over ears ...

After sketching and sharing progress wth my friend, I create the patters I will use to cut the fabric pieces with ....

Apart from the white fleece and wool I used for the eyes, each pup is made from pieces of a Daddy's jumper and one of his shirts. This project is so special because the Dad died last year. 

With the ears sewn in this pup looks rather silly! I need a few small stitches to fold over the ears just right! The nose is also needle felted and the mouth will be hand embroidered :-)

Pin the ears before sewing down so you can get the angle right!

Here are all four dogs ready to leave me. Have fun guys and thank you for standing in the gap and helping to celebrate a special person. 

Have you worked with clothing to help preserve memories?